Rubiks Cube
by Havah Kinny
Summary: Beatrice has finally come to terms that she is in love with her best friend, Roy. She can't admit it to anyone, because she doesn't want to lose her senses to a boy, especially not to a boy like him, but can she hide it? melodrama and fluff WHEEEEEEEEEE!
1. Chapter 1

I am Beatrice Leep. My best friend is Roy Eberhardt. I guess we sort of became friends during the school year when Roy, my stepbrother Mullet Fingers, and I worked together to save some baby owls at a location formerly known as the Mother Paula's lot, but I guess we all really got to know each other over the summer. Roy is a totally great guy. He was the first person I called over the summer after Soccer tryouts when I found out that I was going to the be the first person at Graham High School to ever make varsity soccer as a Freshmen. When I told my dad, I got a small grunt of congratulations, but when I told Roy, I could almost see his face light up on the other end, and insisted on taking me out for ice cream to celebrate. Here I am, on the first day of high school, sitting on the edge of my bed, finally ready to admit that I'm in love with my best friend.

I let my hair down, but on a nice enough shirt, and a short-ish pair of jeans shorts, I let me hair down, and brushed it, I even put on a little make up. Since it was the first day of High School, I figured I could blame it on that, wanting to look good on day one, since I'm pretty sure Roy's moved enough that he'd understand that, he would never know that it was all for him. Since Roy's house is between my house and Graham High, we decided that I would walk over to his house, and from there we would walk together. I sighed deeply, and knocked on his door. "Hey," Roy stepped outside, tugging nervously at his backpack straps. "First day jitters you know?" I nodded. "You look nice."

"Thanks, you know, first day and all," I smiled at him.

"Oh my god, are you nervous?" Roy looked at me, one eyebrow raised.

"No, no." I lied.

"You are, admit it Beatrice, you're nervous." He goaded me.

"Alright, maybe I have some of those first day jitters or whatever you call them," I admitted, shrugging it off.

"Wow, Beatrice the Bear, nervous, who would thought."

"Hey, don't get used to it." I punched Roy, what was supposed to be playfully on the arm, but turned out a little harder then I'd intended.

"OW!" Roy said, I turned slightly pink, but thankfully, he didn't notice. He massaged his arm where I hit it.

"Sorry…" I said. _I have to remember to stop causing physical pain to the guys I like. _

"And apologizing? What is wrong with you?" He looked at me strangely.

"I'm just nervous, god!" _And head over heels in love with you, _I thought.

"Alright, I'm sorry, I'm letting this go now." He chuckled. God, I could just get lost in those clear blue eyes, but no. Jocks like me, "tough girls" don't get to loose their senses over guys, especially not pansy ass guys like Roy Eberhardt.

"Thank you," I said, leaning in to him, shoving him lightly. "Cowgirl," I threw in, for old times sake.

"Hey, I thought we'd agreed no more of that!" Roy shoved me back.

"Right, right," I said, nodding. "We moved on to Ling Ho, did we not?" I wanted to take his hand, the way I did at the pancake lot, but that just wasn't an option.

"Jesus Bea, are you sure you're alright? You look kinda sick or something." Roy looked at me, concerned.

"How many times do I have to tell you Roy? I'm fine," I tried to sound convincing. The truth was, this was the first time I'd been around Roy since I'd come to terms with my feelings, and it was more awkward then I'd initially imagined.

"Ok, consider it dropped." Roy raised his hands, feigning defeat, I walked there with him, pretending it wasn't cute.

"Thanks. God, I am SO ready for this." I said, changing the subject.

"This being…?"

"Um, high school, or did you miss the fact that that's where we're heading?"

"No, no, I know, I just…I dunno, I'm just impressed that you're so incredibly ready for this, I'm scared shitless." Roy smiled. "I mean, there's locker shoving and shit like that. Sadly enough, I'm still small enough to fit into a high school locker…"

"You'll be fine," I said, giving him what I hoped was a reassuring pat on the back. "If anyone stuff you into a locker, it's gonna be me."

"That's comforting…" Roy chuckled.

"Hey, you know I'll only stuff you in a locker if you really, really deserve." I smiled at him and laughed lightly.

"Alright then, I'll just have to work on not letting that happen." Roy nodded. "God, here we are…" he looked at the school.

"Oh come on, it's not all that scary." I tried to sound un-intimidated to impress Roy, but I'm not sure how convincing I was.

"Yes Bea, it is. It's high school, anything could happen!" Roy said.

"Anything?" I asked, dropping my guard for a few seconds. "I mean, yeah? Like what?"

"Like I dunno." Roy shrugged. "There's football, and more homework, varsity sports, I dunno, stuff happens."

"I'm sorry Roy, but I can't picture you doing any sports."

"Well, you've never seen my ride a horse or a shred a mountain on a snowboard." Roy raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, but there is not a lot of call for those sports around here, I'm sorry Tex." Roy looked at me. "Excuse me, I'm sorry _Roy._"

"Thank you, but still, I'm good at them."

"Seriously, you should try skateboarding again, it was a good look on you."

"What, all of the bleeding cuts? Trust me, that was SO not my thing. It was like, hey, look at me? I'm about to fall, oh wait, I already did that 17 times, oh well, who says I can't do it again?" Roy joked around, making me laugh.

"Well, we will fine something for you to do while I'm at soccer practice." We walked on to the campus, and I heard Roy take a deep breath. "Are you ok?" I asked him, genuinely worried.

"Yeah, just nervous, I hate new schools, and the last time I started at a new one, weird shit happened."

"True, but you had that coming, if you hadn't started worrying about the running boy, then everything would have been just fine." _Yeah, I wouldn't be head over heels in love with someone I can't profess my feelings for. _

"Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that I met you and Mullet, I'm just not so thrilled that I got my ass whooped several times along the way."

"That is understandable." I nodded. "Well, we haven't got the same first class, so I'll see you at lunch?" I asked, wishing that we had more then one class together.

"Yeah, sure." I watched Roy walking away and sighed, looking forward not only to lunch but to Geometry, the class afterwards that we shared.

That day, and the month that followed it went the same. I crushed on Roy silently, Roy acted just as a friend. The only thing that was different was Layla, one of my best friends. Layla and I have been friends for about five years, and were normally completely honest with each other, but I had kept my thing for Roy a secret. This became unfortunately harder when Layla professed _her_ crush on Roy. She asked me things about him, if I thought he liked her, and I lied. I said I was sure that Roy didn't like her. The truth was, it seemed as though Roy really did like her. He laughed at her jokes, he smiled when she was around, which she usually was. This made it even harder for me to come to terms with my feelings for Roy, and it made it impossible for me to tell anyone.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey, Roy," I caught up to him in the hallway. "So, I was wondering if maybe you would want to go to the homecoming dance with me, just as friends." My heart beat nervously, but hopefully, he couldn't tell.

"Oh, Bea, I'm sorry, I can't. Layla already asked me, and I figured I wouldn't get a better offer." Roy looked apologetic, or at least pretended to.

"Oh, don't worry about it, I'll find someone else." I pretended to shrug it off, but I felt sick to my stomach. Did he actually like Layla?

"I'm sure you sill, smart, pretty, cool girls don't have problems finding dates for dances." He smiled at me.

"Shut up," I said. _Did he just say I was pretty? _"You have to say that, you're my best friend." _He DID just say I was pretty…and smart. Did he mean that?_

"Yeah, ok." Roy rolled his eyes jokingly. "See you later?"

"Of course." I watched Roy head down the hallway, and thought about only one thing, making him jealous, by using Tyler Walker. Tyler Walker was a junior on the football team who, since his recent break up with his girlfriend, I had caught watching me once or twice. I went up to his locker, and leaned against the one next to his. "Hey," I said. "Tyler Walker?"

"Ty to you babe," he winked at me.

"I hear you and your girlfriend called it quits," I tried to be sly.

"Yeah babe, I'm as single as they come."

"Want to go to homecoming?" I asked nonchalantly.

"With you? Sure," he nodded.

"Ok, I'll meet you there, and after maybe you can drive me home." I winked.

"Alright, sure thing. I'll see you there…"

"Beatrice, Bea if you like."

"Alright Bea." I walked away, turning back only once to see if he was still watching, and was pleased to find that he was.

At our school, homecoming is a casual dance, so when I met Ty at the door, I wore a short black skirt and a white tank top. "Lookin' find babe," he said, sliding his arm around my waist as we entered. I looked around, but I didn't see Roy and Layla yet, so I just started to dance with Ty, swinging my hips more, and moving closer to Ty when I finally saw Roy and Layla enter. They were dancing, but no where near as close as Ty and I were. They both looked happy, and I felt bad for wanting him to leave her, for wanting him to tell her to piss off. I looked away for a second, and when I glanced back, they were nowhere in sight.

"Up a little," I said, moving Ty's hands, which had traveled down towards the hem of my skirt, back up to my waist.

"Relax babe," Ty said, trying once more. I again, moved his hands.

"Stop," I said.

"Alright, sorry." We went back to dancing, but a few minutes later, I felt his hands rising up my front, again past my comfort level.

"Stop," I said, louder then the first time. He didn't. I pulled his hands down, but they rose again. "STOP IT!" I yelled.

"Are you deaf?" Roy asked, coming out of nowhere. "She said stop." Ty laughed at Roy.

"What do you think your skinny ass is gonna do about it?" Roy didn't say anything, he just punched Ty in the side of the face, causing Ty to let go of me, and turn on Roy, who was at least 6 inches shorter, and a hundred pounds lighter. "You just messed with the wrong guy." He aimed a punch at Roy, who managed to duck.

"FIGHT!" someone yelled, and a ring quickly formed around Roy and Ty. Naturally, Roy couldn't stay lucky. Ty threw a well aimed punch that caught Roy squarely in the left eye with such force that it knocked him to the ground. Ty then kicked Roy in the side. Roy wasted no time kicking upwards, and hitting Ty in that place where no boy wants to be kicked.

"BREAK IT UP!" The vice principals voice rang over the jeering, and Ty made a run for it to avoid being caught. I went to Roy and took his hand, helping him up. We walked inconspicuously out a side door of the school.

"My god, are you alright?" Roy asked as we walked out in to the warm Floridian rain, despite the humidity, I shivered. "Here," Roy handed me his jacket. "Now are you alright?"

"I'm fine," I said, unable to hide the fact that I was crying. "What about you?" I asked, looking him over.

"I'll have a lovely black eye tomorrow, but other then that…" He trailed off, and sat down on the first of many wet bleachers by the football field.

"Why did you do that?" I asked. "You didn't have to."

"I didn't want that pig touching you, it's just not right, especially after you told him to stop." Roy shook his head. "He had not right to do that to you."

"How did you know though? There's like 300 people in there." I raised an eyebrow.

"I know you can look after yourself, but I just don't trust that guy. I had to keep an eye on you, and I guess it's a good thing I did. The last that I want is for something bad to happen to you or-or for someone else to hurt you when there's something I could've done to stop it." What was it, the final straw. I closed the gap between us, and kissed him on the lips. He kissed me back, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me closer to him without breaking the kiss. I put my arms around his neck, playing slightly with his hair. When the kiss finally broke, I was crying harder then I had been before, but these were tears of joy.

"What about Layla?" I asked.

"We're just friends," Roy said, shrugging.

"Does she know that?"

"I'm pretty sure she does now. She saw me watching you with Tyler." Roy kept his arms around me. "You sure you're alright Bea?" He wiped a few of my tears away.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, it's just been one hell of a night." I sighed.

"Let me walk you home." Roy stood, offering his hand and helping me up.

"It's out of your way," I pointed out, stepping on to the soggy grass.

"I know, I don't care." Roy continued to hold my hand as we walked.

"You don't have too…"

"I know, I want to." He stopped at turned to look at me, smiling.

"Thanks," I couldn't help but blush.

"It's my pleasure," he started walking again, and my tears slowed.

"I have a question," I said. "Do you like me, like more then a friend?" I knew the question sounded stupid and middle school, but I wanted the answer.

"Yeah, of course." Roy nodded. "I've had a crush on you since the first time you stole my bike."

"Really?" I asked, biting my bottom lip.

"Yup."

"Then why did you go to the dance with Layla?" I asked.

"Simple," Roy shrugged. "I was sure that you would never fall for a wimpy ex cowboy like me."

"You know, you're no where near as weak as you think you are," I said honestly.

"How do you mean exactly?" Roy looked confused.

"You attacked Ty, and fought a good fight."

"Yeah, but that was for you," Roy argued. "And he still got the better of me."

"Alright, you broke Dana's nose last year," I reminded him, almost daring him to come with an excuse.

"I got lucky."

"Alright then," I said. "You confronted me about Mullet Fingers when you knew I was more then capable of kicking your ass." Roy had no come back for that one. "You're more then good enough for me."

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked.

"I don't know, I guess I didn't want people to think that I was losing my senses to a guy, and I didn't want to lose you as a friend."

"You don't have to worry about that." When we got to my door, Roy kissed me goodnight. Not a long, deep kiss like the one on the bleachers, but a brief, tender, romantic, kiss that ended in an embrace. "Goodnight," Roy said as I handed back his jacket.

"Goodnight," I said.

"You look really good tonight," he said before leaving.

"I'm a mess," I said, very conscious of the fact that my face was red and blotchy from the crying, and my hair was sticking to my face from the rain.

"You're beautiful," he said, kissing me on the cheek once before turning and walking away.


End file.
